A Different Winx Club
by roseannacharlotte
Summary: When Daphne sent Bloom to safety, the young princess ended up in the cave of the Great Dragon, who is able to take 'human' form. The Great Dragon blesses Bloom and sends her to Earth where the Ancestral Witches won't reach her. When Bloom goes to Magix, Daphne becomes corporeal again. The Winx Club is going to be different now.
1. Some Unexpected Events

Chapter One: Some Unexpected Events

Daphne clutched Bloom tightly as she ran down the corridor of the palace of Domino. The sound of the Ancestral Witches' laughter echoed behind her. A sudden certainty hit the Supreme Nymph of Magix. She couldn't get away from the witches.

The princess of Domino looked at her baby sister in her arms and an idea stuck. First she transferred the guardianship of the Dragon Flame to the little girl she held as she ran. Then she opened a portal to take Bloom to safety. There wasn't time to tell the spell exactly where to take her; all Daphne could do was ensure her sister would be safe from the Ancestrals.

As soon as the portal was closed, Daphne turned to meet the witches. When the dust of that battle settled, Daphne was gone.

Many years ago when the lands of Magix came into being, legend said that the breath of a Great Dragon created all. Most people assumed the legend to be untrue but they were wrong. A Great Dragon had used its flame to create every part of the Magix Dimension. Then, tired out, it settled down on the most beautiful planet of its creation and went to sleep. It had lived on this planet – Domino – ever since.

Most of the citizens of Domino knew this, but none of them knew that the dragon was capable of shifting into the same appearance they had. In fact, the Great Dragon spent most of her time in a human form as it was more convenient for her.

She was in this form when a portal opened and an infant came through it.

"Hello little one," she said as she picked the child up and looked at her. To the Great Dragon's surprise, she recognised the little girl as the youngest daughter of the King and Queen of Domino. And she held the Great Dragon's own flame. This confused the Great Dragon a little as she was sure the elder princess had been the flame's guardian. It didn't take long however for the Great Dragon to put the pieces together.

"I don't think I'm up to child-raising," the dragon murmured as she placed a kiss on the child's forehead. "There, you have my blessing. It will always protect you now."

Turning back into draconic form, the Great Dragon breathed out a stream of fire over the infant, sending her away through a second portal. This time she ended up on Earth, inside a burning building.

It was one of the firemen, Mike, who found her. He and his wife Vanessa had been trying to have children for several years but found that they could not. When no one could find the child's parents, custody was given to Mike and his wife. Vanessa felt a voice in her head, telling her the child's name was Bloom.

Daphne came too slowly and in confusion. How was she alive? Then she noticed that one of her hands was rather opaque.

The Princess of Domino looked carefully at herself and came to a realisation. She was non-corporeal. In other words, she was a ghost.

Just then, Daphne became aware of her surroundings. She was inside a cave at the bottom of Lake Roccalucci. Daphne knew the place well. A large basin, which she had often used for scrying stood in the middle of the cave. Floating over to it, Daphne placed her ghostly hand over the basin and recited the spell that would allow her to view her sister through the basin. The image appeared.

Daphne saw a male firefighter take her sister from the flames of the fire he was putting out. The ghostly princess resolved to watch over her sister forever.

Many years had passed since Mike and Vanessa had taken in the child he had rescued from a fire. The couple had never told their daughter that she was adopted and she remained in ignorant bliss. She dreamt often of fairies but didn't realise it meant anything. Even though it did.

It was the first day of her summer holidays and Bloom was feeling frustrated at the overprotectiveness of her parents. She was leaning against a tree in the park and grumbling to herself about the unfairness of not being allowed to go on holiday with her friends when Kiko, her pet rabbit, came running towards her in a panic.

Bloom got up to go and see what had scared her pet. Hidden from her former line of sight behind some trees, Bloom found a battle taking place.

One of the combatants was a tall, tanned girl with a pair of wings on her back. Golden blonde hair was separated into two bunches. Her outfit was also Golden and glittered in the sun. In her hand she held a staff.

The girl was fighting against a creature Bloom had only ever seen in books – an ogre. It seemed that the ogre wanted the staff the girl had.

As Bloom watched, the ogre gained the upper hand and took the staff from the girl. Without thinking Bloom stepped forward and demanded the ogre let the girl go. The ogre laughed and ordered the Ghouls it had with it to attack Bloom.

"Get back," shouted Bloom, thrusting her hand out in front of her. To her surprise the ghouls all fell back away from her. The ogre growled and picked her up by both arms shaking her like a doll.

"Get off me!" Bloom yelled, anger and something she couldn't identify welling up inside her until it pushed out. The ogre was forced to let her go. In the confusion, the girl reclaimed her staff.

Staff in hand, the girl began to attack the ogre once more. A ghoul ran over to Bloom and tried to bite her leg. A stick took care of the ghoul, but a piece of Bloom's jeans was ripped off and taken by the ghoul. The ogre backed away and suddenly, it and the ghouls vanished.

"Finally," the girl murmured with a smile, before collapsing in a dead faint on the grass. As she fainted, her clothing changed and her wings vanished.

"Run that by me one more time." Mike was a very practical man and his daughter was sprouting off some nonsense about fairies and ogres in the park. He really couldn't believe what she was telling him. It just wasn't possible that the girl currently passed out on his sofa was a fairy.

A groan alerted the family that their unexpected guest was waking up.

"How do you feel dear?" asked Vanessa kindly.

"I'm alright. Thank you for your help. I really must be going now."

"I don't think so. You ought to be visiting a hospital young lady," said Mike.

"But I have to get to Alfea Castle in Magix. I was on my way there when that ogre attacked me and I had to land."

"What's Alfea Castle?" asked Bloom.

"It's the best school for fairies in Magix. Are you not enrolled?" the girl asked.

"I'm not a fairy," Bloom protested.

"You must be," retorted the other girl. "You used magic against that ogre." Bloom's jaw dropped. "You should come with me to Alfea," the girl said.

"I don't even know your name," pointed out Bloom.

"Oh of course, how rude of me, I'm Stella, Princess of Solaria. I'm the fairy of the sun, moon and stars."

"I'm Bloom."

The front door of the house flew open with a crash. The ogre and ghouls stood in the doorway along with another creature. Stella informed Bloom that it was a hunting troll.

Quickly, Stella removed a ring from her finger and threw it into the air with a cry of 'Solaria'. The ring grew and stretched into the staff, Stella had had in the battle earlier. As her hand closed around the staff, her dress changed into the golden glittery outfit she had been wearing earlier and her wings reappeared.

Stella began to shoot beams of magic at the ogre and troll. Bloom tried to attack herself and found she was picking the ghouls off one by one whilst Stella distracted the other two.

When all the ghouls had gone, Bloom turned her attacks upon the ogre despite knowing she wasn't strong enough. But with both Bloom and Stella attacking, the battle moved backwards into the street. A misaimed spell of Bloom's caused the street to crack and the hunting troll fell into the new chasm.

A flash of light pre-empted the arrival of four guys around the same age of the two fairies. The ogre looked at the new arrivals and disappeared again. One of the boys knelt down and placed a collar round the hunting troll's neck.

Stella introduced the boys as students of Alfea's brother school; Red Fountain.

The boys left with the hunting troll whilst Stella and Bloom set about tidying up the mess of the battle.

"Stella, I want to come to Alfea and learn to use my powers," Bloom decided when everything was done.


	2. First Day in Magix

First Day in Magix

When the clean-up was finished, Stella, Mike and Vanessa helped Bloom to pack for Alfea.

"How do we get to this school then?" Mike asked Stella.

"like this," replied Stella, taking her ring off her finger. She threw the ring into the air and as it fell it turned into the staff she used. Stella grabbed the staff before it could fall to the floor then swung it around the four people stood in Bloom's bedroom.

It felt for a moment like they were falling through a vast expanse of blue nothingness then they 'landed' in a lush green field, surrounded on all sides by verdant green trees. In the distance a castle, built of pink toned stone, could be seen. At least, part of the castle could be seen. The castle was surrounded by a high wall built of the same stone so only the tops of some of the towers were actually visible. Stella informed the family that this castle was the fairy school Bloom was about to attend.

"Well then, what are we standing around here for?" asked Mike rhetorically as he began to walk towards the distant castle. The man stopped walking after a moment; it was as though an invisible wall were preventing him from going any further

"What the?" Bloom's father spluttered incoherently. His wife came over to see what the problem was. She too encountered the invisible wall. Bloom walked passed them, unhindered by whatever was stopping her parents. She turned to look back at her new friend.

"Did you do _that _Stella?" Bloom questioned the girl, gesturing vaguely in the direction of her parents. The blonde shook her head.

"There's a magical barrier," she explained using some of her magic to make it visible. "IT keeps non-magical creatures out of Alfea. I'm sorry, this is as far as you can come." The last part she addressed to Mike and Vanessa. Bloom returned through the barrier, which parted to let her through, and pulled her parents into a group hug. Both Mike and Vanessa hugged her hard, knowing it would be some time until they saw her again.

When the family had finished saying their goodbyes, Stella spoke again.

"I'll send you back now. Hold still." Stella swung her sceptre round again and Mike and Vanessa disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Daphne smiled to herself as she watched her sister and the Princess of Solaria walk towards Alfea Castle, chatting amicably. Although scrying could only give a picture and no sound, Daphne guessed that Stella was telling Bloom all about Magix and the school of Alfea.

It was as Bloom and Stella walked through the gate into the castle that Daphne stopped watching her sister for the first time in fifteen years. IT wasn't her fault of course. One moment she was looking at her scry the next she was staring at a rather familiar bed. Daphne looked around in confusion. She seemed to be in the dorm room at Alfea that she had once shared with Politea.

Daphne shook her head to clear it of thoughts of the betrayer. Her eyes caught the mirror. The Princess of Domino stared at her reflection in shock for a good five minutes.

"How can I be corporeal again?"" she murmured softly to herself. Daphne looked closely at her reflection, noting how her appearance was as it had been when she really was sixteen and had been a student at Alfea.

The formally dead princess went to look at the door of the room she was in. The door of each room at Alfea was inscribed with the occupants of that room. The names on the door were 'Daff' and 'Flora of Lynphea'. Daff was the nickname Politea had given Daphne whilst they were at school. In return, Daphne had called her roommate 'Tea.

The fact that the door said 'Daff' rather than 'Daphne of Domino' made Daphne suspect it might be a good idea to keep her identity hidden. After all, how many people would believe she was the long dead princess of a planet that had been destroyed years ago? The Princess of Domino thought she'd better hide her obviously Dominion features. A glamour charm would do the trick.

The glamour spell Daphne used gave her the appearance of someone raised in an orphanage in Magix City. The name on her door would back up this impression.

Daphne was now in a common room that was linking three dormitories. She was just about to look at who else would be staying in these dorms when the door into the common room opened. It was Stella and Bloom who walked in.

It took all of Daphne's self-control not to run over and envelop her little sister in a hug. Bloom, after all, had no idea who Daphne was or even that they were related. Daphne wasn't even sure Bloom was aware she was adopted. Daphne didn't want to be the one to break the news if this was indeed the case.

"Looks like we're in the same room," Stella told Bloom. "It's the same one I had last year." Stella had apparently not noticed Daphne.

The door opened again. The fairy who entered had fairly dark skin with a texture to it that almost reminded those who saw her of bark. Daphne guessed this was her roommate. The bark like skin and the vaguely green tinted, brunette hair were rather obvious clues to this girl's Arbore Lynphean heritage.

Daphne's probable roommate had her arms full of luggage, including plants in pots. Inevitably, one of the pots fell from her hands and the girl was knocked off her feet by it. Everything she was carrying went flying.

"Are you alright?" It was Bloom that hurried over and offered the girl a hand to get up.

"Yes, thank you," replied the girl as she took Bloom's hand and scrambled to her feet. Bloom was looking at her with a fair amount of curiosity. "I'm Flora of Lynphea."

"Princess Stella of Solaria. This is Princess Varanda of Callisto." Stella walked over and slung her arm across Bloom's shoulders as she spoke. Flora smiled at the two girls then turned to Daphne with an inquiring look.

"I'm Daff," Daphne stated quickly. Flora and Stella gave the perceived orphan sympathetic looks but Bloom seemed oblivious.

The door opened again and another fairy entered. This one had short purple hair which suggested possible Zenithian heritage but her rainbow of clothing countered this impression. The people of Zenith tended to wear black and white.

Before she could be introduced the door opened once more. The girl who entered, Daphne knew at once, was from the Kingdom of Melody. The people of Melody were the only people in Magix who looked like the Oriental people of Earth.

Introductions went round again. The purple haired fairy said she was Tecna of Zenith, whilst the other late arrival called herself Musa of Melody.

It was Musa who suggested they go out to Magix city and grab dinner together. Everyone agreed to this plan and Bloom nearly gave herself away by suggesting they get pizza. She covered her mistake by pretending it was the national dish of Callisto.

Bloom looked at her mobile in annoyance. She wanted to call her mum and dad but she had no signal what-so-ever. It was extremely frustrating. She supposed she'd have to get a new sim card, but it was too late in the evening for that now. All the shop were already closed. Bloom remembered seeing a couple of public phone boxes on their way to the café they were now sat in. She decided to go use one of those. Telling the others where she was going, Bloom slipped out of her seat and headed back the way they had come.

As she was chatting to her mother on the phone, Bloom noticed the ogre that had attacked Stella in Gardenia. The ogre appeared to be trying to be sneaky and unnoticed, though it was doing a terrible job of this. Bloom quickly ended her conversation with her mum and snuck after the troll. It was spying on her friends.

After a few minutes it left again and slipped into an alleyway. Bloom followed and hid behind some conveniently placed dustbins. Three girls stood at the end of the alley, obviously waiting for the ogre. One of the trio, whose ice-white hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, stepped forward to meet the ogre.

"Well Knut?" Her voice was cold as ice.

"Er… Um… I saw the blonde girl with the sceptre in the square. She was with her, uh, her friends." The girl clearly made the ogre nervous.

The girl in purple spoke; Bloom could see her lips moving but she spoke too quietly for Bloom to hear the words. The three girls and the ogre moved so Bloom could no longer see the girls behind the ogre. Bloom was muttering under her breath for the ogre to move when she felt a shove from behind and found herself falling to the ground in front of the girls.

"Surprised?" asked the Ice girl.

"What's taking Varanda so long?" questioned Tecna.

"Maybe she got lost?" suggested Musa.

"Let's go look for her," Stella decided. She seemed worried. The others agreed and the five girls set off, Stella in front and Daphne bringing up the rear.

Stella let out a gasp and turned into an alleyway, where three witches and an ogre stood around a large crystal of ice. Within the ice was Bloom.

"Hey!" yelled Stella. Leave her alone you bullies!"

"Knut, they're all yours," stated one of the witches. The ogre started running towards the fairies. The girls began to transform. Daphne knew that using her Sirenix powers would give away that she wasn't who she said she was but, with her little sister in danger, she didn't care. So Daphne attempted to transform into her Sirenix. She couldn't. A thought occurred to the Princess of Domino. She had given Bloom the dragon flame before she died. Maybe her powers no longer came from it. But what did they come from then? As the Supreme Nymph of Magix she had gained control of the elements. Maybe that would be her power now.

"Daphne, Fairy of the Elements," she murmured softly under her breath. The fairy felt her transformation begin. When the transformation was complete Daphne looked down to see she was not in her Sirenix transformation, and this transformation was different to the one she had originally had. The former Nymph put this down to the change in her power source.

Daphne joined the battle just as the witch who had told the ogre to attack sent a blast of ice towards the girls. Daphne sent a gust of wind towards the witches causing the ice to change direction. She was aware of other spells being cast around her but didn't take her eyes of the ice witch who was attacking again. An unfamiliar magic took hold of Daphne and pulled. It was the magic of Stella's sceptre which had teleported the fairies, including Bloom, away from the alley.

Bloom sat with her back against the nearest wall shivering. Stella knelt down next to her.

"Are you okay Bloom? You did really well you know, for an earthling."

"Stella!" The exclamation came from all those not in the know about Bloom's identity.

"Is there something you want to tell us about Bloom of Callisto, Stella?" Flora asked. Stella sighed and told them the whole story. Daphne knew what had happened but pretended to be as shocked as the others were.

"Come on," Tecna interrupted halfway through Stella's story. "We'd better get back to school. You can finish the tale on the bus."

IT was rather late when they got back to school and the six fairies tried to be sneaky. Unfortunately for them, Deputy Headmistress Griselda had watched them leave the school and had been waiting for them to return.

"Do you have any idea what time it is young ladies?"

"We've been worried sick," added Headmistress Faragonda, who was with the Deputy Headmistress. "Straight to bed with you now."

"Just one moment Princess Varanda," interrupted Griselda. "Is there something you'd like to tell us?" Bloom realised Griselda knew, or at least suspected, she wasn't actually Varanda.

"My name is Bloom, ma'am and I'm from Earth." Griselda was displeased about Bloom's lies and wanted to kick her out of Alfea but Faragonda overruled her and sent the six fairies off to bed.

"We ought to have a name for the six of us," Bloom suggested.

"A name is good for a quick reference," agreed Tecna.

"Yes, we could be the Stella Six," suggested Stella.

"I was thinking 'Winx'," countered Bloom.

"What does Winx mean?" asked Musa.

"Nothing, just us," answered Bloom.

"I like it," Daff stated.

"Me too," agreed Flora.

"All in favour say Aye," giggled Tecna.

"Aye," said six voices in union.


	3. The Fairy School

The Fairy School

The school year began. The first class was with a professor named Wizgiz. Wizgiz, it turned out, was a leprechaun. The subject Wizgiz taught was called metamorphosis which the professor preferred to call 'the art of changing the way you look'. After introducing himself and his subject, giving a demonstration of what the technique was capable of by making himself look like Griselda, Professor Wizgiz stated that the class would start with a simple exercise. The leprechaun waved his hand and a hand mirror appeared on each girl's desk.

"Now girls, this takes concentration. Look into the mirror at your reflection and think about changing the colour of your hair."

Everyone in the class picked up their mirror and looked into it. Some of the girls, Stella among them, got the spell straight away. Others took a little longer. Daphne was actually using a different spell because of the glamour spell she was already using.

Bloom couldn't seem to get the spell at all. By the end of the lesson she still hadn't got the hang of the spell and she returned with the other Winx girls to their dormitory, feeling very disheartened and ready to give up.

"You just need to practise some more. You'll get it," Tecna told Bloom as they entered the dorm.

"We'll help you practise, won't we girls?" Musa addressed the group.

"Do we have to?" retorted Stella. "School's only just beginning. It doesn't matter if you don't get it today."

"Where I come from," Bloom told Stella, "we have a saying. Don't put off till tomorrow what can be done today."

"We don't have such a saying in Solaria and we're all much more relaxed," was Stella's response to that.

"Stella, come on," interrupted Flora.

"Oh alright," Stella finally agreed. "Now Bloom, concentrate. Pick a colour and imagine your hair slowly changing into that colour."

Bloom screwed her eyes shut in apparent concentration. Magic was building up around her. Bloom's hair did not change colour. Instead her fringe was now sticking up in several spikes.

Bloom growled in frustration.

"You're not concentrating enough Bloom," Stella told her friend as Daff, who had gone to the library after class, entered the room.

"Still struggling Bloom?" Daff questioned kindly.

"Is it that obvious?" Bloom wanted to know.

Daff just smiled gently and shook her head.

"Here," Daff handed Bloom one of the books she held. "Maybe this will help."

Bloom looked down at the page the book was open to. A section on magical theory, written by Princess Daphne of Domino the Supreme Nymph of Magix, caught her eye. Bloom read the passage again, then took a deep breath and tried the spell again.

Musa handed Bloom a mirror. Bloom stared at her reflection in astonishment. She had done it. Her hair was no longer the brilliant fiery red it had always been; it was now bright blue.

"It worked! Thanks Daff!"

Not too far away from Alfea, at the Cloud Tower School for witches, the three witches who had attacked Bloom were plotting their next move. Or at least they had been, until Headwitchtress Griffin stood to make an announcement. Her announcement was about the back to school dance at Alfea, which would be held with the Red Fountain School of Specialists and which the witches of Cloud Tower had not been invited to. Griffin wanted to assign a special project. Each of the witches were to come up with an idea to crash the party and ruin it.

The triplets known as the Trix looked at each other as everyone else turned back to their breakfast.

"Shall we submit a proposal?" Darcy asked her sisters.

"Why not?" agreed Icy.

"It'll be fun Stormy dear. Trust me," Icy told her with a smirk.

Back at Alfea, the girls were preparing for the party. The Alfea students had decorated the hall and planned the music then all returned to their dormitories to decide what to wear. In the Winx Club dorm Stella, Musa, Flora and Tecna had chosen their dresses but neither Bloom nor Daphne had anything appropriate to wear.

"Shopping!" Stella declared so enthusiastically that everyone else burst out laughing at her. The six Winx girls made their way down to the bus stop and took a bus to Magix.

Daff quickly found and purchased a dress but Bloom was struggling to find something she could afford. Dresses in Magix were rather expensive compared to the shops Bloom used in her hometown of Gardenia. Daphne had secretly used the Royal Funds of Domino to purchase her dress. She wanted to pay for Bloom's dress but, since Bloom didn't know of their relation, she could not.

The hours wore on and still Bloom hadn't found a dress. Eventually the other girls returned to the school to get dressed whilst Bloom kept looking.

A couple of minutes after her friends left, Bloom spotted a sign in a shop window. The sign proclaimed SALE. Bloom gave a sigh of relief and ran into the shop. Inside she rummaged through the rails until finally she found a dress she could afford. It wasn't quite right when she tried it on but Bloom was sure she could fix it up a bit. She paid for the dress and ran for the bus.

Back at Alfea Bloom began to hunt for a pair of scissors. She couldn't find any in her dorm so she went looking for a supply cupboard.

When Bloom opened one of the doors she heard voices. Very familiar voices. Those voices belonged to the witches who had attacked Bloom in Magix on her first evening there.

Not wanting to be discovered by the three witches, Bloom turned and ran back along the corridor until she found a convenient alcove to hide in. Her hiding place happened to be near a chest that the boys from red fountain had put there earlier on. The chest contained gifts from the specialists for the fairies.

"Look, that's the crest of Red Fountain. The gifts must be in there." The ice witch's voice sounded close to Bloom's hiding place. Cautiously Bloom leant forward a little so she could see what was happening.

"I wonder what those simpletons are going to give the silly little fairies?" The witch who had tricked Bloom with her illusions smirked as she spoke.

"Whatever it is we'll use it to spread havoc and chaos," shrugged the storm witch. "And whilst the foolish fairies are distracted we'll get that ring. So why don't you show us where it is Darcy?"

"With pleasure sister," replied the illusion witch before beginning to cast a spell. "Illusion! Show the Trix!"

An image appeared in the air showing Stella. Stella took off her sceptre ring and placed it within a jewelled shell which she put away in her jewellery box.

When the image faded the Trix turned their attention to the chest from red fountain. Bloom listened in horror as the three witches cast a spell to turn the pretty eggs filled with butterflies into snake rat eggs. Bloom had no idea what a snake rat was but she had a pretty good guess that it was not a good thing.

Their spell complete, the Trix left and Bloom was able to come out from her hiding place. Her dress was forgotten in the importance of warning her friends about the Trix and their spell.

Ducking into the hall where everyone else was enjoying the party, Bloom quickly located the rest of the Winx Club and made her way as unobtrusively as possible over to them. She was waylaid on her route however by one of the Red Fountain boys who she had met before she came to Alfea. The boy, whom Stella had introduced to Bloom as Brandon, told Bloom how happy he was to see her. Bloom replied that she was happy to see Brandon too but she really had to go. Then she hurried off.

"Girls!" Bloom called as she got close to the other Winx.

"There you are Bloom,"" responded Stella with pleasure.

"We were starting to worry," put in Tecna.

"What took you so long?" questioned Flora.

"Is something wrong Bloom?" asked Daff, who was looking at Bloom rather closely. Bloom nodded.

"It's an emergency," Bloom told her friends. "The witches are here."

"What are you talking about Bloom?" Bloom had been speaking so quietly that Stella had struggled to hear her friend. Bloom gave a sigh and tried again, a bit louder this time.

"The witches who attacked me in Magix are here. They cast a spell on the presents from Red Fountain. They said something about a snake-rat."

Tecna pulled up her database.

"Hmm, snake-rats. It says here that snake-rats are swamp creatures of the disgustabilus genus. They eat toads…"

"Okay, okay, we get the picture," interrupted Stella. "Slimy, mean and vicious. Just like the witches. What's in it for them though."

"They're after your ring, Stella. The panic caused by the snake-rats will give them a distraction so no one notices."

"How sneaky!" exclaimed Musa. "We have to stop them handing out those eggs."

"We're too late," cried Flora in dismay, looking at the two specialists carrying he chest into the hall.

"Jinx," laughed Bloom. The other Winx girls looked at her in confusion. Bloom shrugged.

"Earth thing," she explained.

"Form a circle," instructed Daphne. The six girls formed a circle and Stella took over the lead.

"Repeat after me," the sun fairy told her friends. "What it once was, let it be again." The six girls spoke Stella's words in unison three times.

One of the boys handed one of the fairies an egg just as the Winx finished their spell. A shower of golden butterflies emerged from the egg. The counter spell had worked.

"Here you are Stella. I hope this egg brings you luck." Prince Sky, one of the specialists Bloom had met on Earth, handed the blonde fairy an egg.

"Oh, thank you sweetie," Stella replied as she took the egg.

"Can I see that?" asked Musa. Stella handed the egg over to her friend. Musa, Flora and Daff all peered closely at the egg.

"Girls," started Daff, "are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I am," agreed Flora. "And I've studied Professor Palladium's lesson well." Musa gave Flora the egg. Bloom looked confused. Flora cast a spell on the egg.

"What did you do to the egg?" Bloom questioned Flora.

"I'll tell you later. Hurry up and go get dressed," Flora instructed her friend.

Bloom smiled at Flora then turned and ran back to her dorm to get dressed. She was just picking up her dress to put on when she noticed Stella's jewellery box beginning to levitate. Bloom followed the jewellery box out of the bedroom into the common area, where the ring box came out of it and the jewellery box fell to the floor. Ignoring the jewellery box, Bloom ran after the ring box, which was floating fast through the corridors.

Bloom managed to catch up with the box just as it exited the building and threw herself at it, pining it to the ground. Bloom stood up, holding the ring box, and found herself face to face with the three witches.

"Nosy little fairy," muttered the storm witch, apparently to no one in particular.

Inside the great hall of Alfea castle, Flora glanced out the window and saw her friend facing three witches. She told the rest of her friends and they began to head off to help her when their headmistress appeared in front of them.

Headmistress Faragonda wanted the girls to present the gifts to Red Fountain and Musa to play some music. The Winx looked at each other in dismay as they realised they would be unable to help Bloom.

The witches didn't take long to start their attacks. At first, Bloom felt she couldn't fight back as her magic wasn't strong enough. But as the ice witch stared down at her with hatred clear in her eyes, Bloom felt a strong determination flow through her. After all, she was a fairy and she would not fail.

The strange feeling she'd had that day in the park came back, but it was stronger. Bloom looked down at herself and came to a realisation. She had transformed into a fairy.

"Wow! Well it looks like we're evenly matched now," Bloom told the three witches.

"Your fairy outfit might be cute but you'll need more than that to beat us," countered the Ice Witch.

"Vertigo!" cried the Illusion witch. Bloom began to feel dizzy and couldn't see straight. She quickly realised this was the effect of the witch's spell and flew straight up into the air. The illusion spell's effects went away.

"Fairies can fly and spells of illusion can't affect me up here," Bloom mocked the witches a little.

The illusion witch growled, grinding her teeth together. The ice witch began to attack Bloom with multiple blasts of ice. As she had done in Magix, the witch attempted to freeze Bloom within an ice crystal. Bloom dodged and ended up amongst some bushes. The witch froze some of the bushes with a laugh.

Laughing cruelly, the three witches left, taking Stella's ring with them.

The Winx club rushed outside looking for Bloom. They found the destruction left by the witches and were worried.

"Bloom!" cried Daphne, scared that her sister was hurt in some way.

"Bloom" Stella's exclamation was tinged with relief. The other Winx girls turned to look where Stella was and saw Bloom standing up out of the bushes.

"Bloom, are you okay?" Flora, having seen the witches, was one of the most worried of the Winx Club.

"I'm okay. Still in one piece at least. What happened to you girls?"

"WE couldn't get away from the headmistress," explained Stella.

"You ran quite a risk confronting those witches," stated Tecna.

"I know," sighed Bloom. "But I couldn't just let them take Stella's ring."

"Don't worry Bloom," reassured Flora, placing an arm round Bloom's shoulders. "Stella's ring is perfectly safe."

"What do you mean?" Bloom asked Flora.

"Here's some scissors," stated Daphne, handing the item over. "Go finish getting dressed. You don't want to end up missing the party completely." Bloom took the scissors and hurried away.

Exclamations of amazement erupted across the Great Hall of Alfea as Bloom entered in her modified Dress. Ignoring everyone else Bloom made her way to her friends, determined to learn from them exactly what they had done to protect Stella's ring.

"You look as beautiful as a spring flower," Stella told Bloom when she reached them.

"Thank you," Bloom replied. "You know, you never did tell me what you did with that egg?"

"Flora pulled a little switcharoo with the egg and Stella's ring," Daff explained.

"The ring's now in a safe place, right Stella?" confirmed Musa. Stella nodded.

"I'd love to see the witch's face when she opens the ring box and a swam of beautiful butterflies comes out," giggled Bloom.

"That's not quite how it's going to go," laughed Flora.

Stella explained that when the witch opened the ring box she'd find a duck egg inside which would hatch. The duck would imprint on the first thing it saw; the witch. All the Winx girls burst into laughter at the thought.

As the Winx got their laughter under control, some of the specialists came over and asked the girls to dance. The rest of the evening was spent dancing and having fun.


End file.
